Boanthropy

Boanthropy is a psychological disorder in which a person believes themselves to be a cow or other bovine. Psychologists generally group it with other forms of zoanthropy under the diagnosis of clinical lycanthropy, and patients frequently, though not always, also have schizophrenia, psychotic depression or bipolar disorder. Suggested contributors include hypnosis and auto-suggestion, and medical explanations offered for apparent cases include porphyria and general paresis from late-stage syphilis. The biblical account of King Nebuchadnezzar II in the Book of Daniel is sometimes read as boanthropy, and Persian tradition tells of the Buyid prince Majd al-Dawla, who believed he was a cow and was said to have been cured by Avicenna. Jung, Freud and Laing all discussed related animal identification in their work.